Courtyard Imagery Reproduction In English Translation Of Hong Lou Meng From The Perspective Of Palmer’s Cultural Linguistics

In his book Toward a Theory of Cultural Linguistics (1996), the American linguistic anthropologist Gary B. Palmer brought forward the theory of cultural linguistics in the western linguistic anthropology and in the filed of language and culture. In this theory, Palmer tied cognitive linguistics to the linguistic anthropology, borrowing "imagery" from cognitive linguistics and regarding it as the core concept of this theory. This newly synthesizing theory is closely integrated with imagery, language and culture and its main viewpoints are as follows:diverse images can elaborate the way speakers deploy speech and listeners comprehend it. Language is the play of verbal symbols based on images which are relative to culture and personal experience.To some extent, Hong Lou Meng is a novel primarily depicting family life for the reason that the main story line develops in the occasion of courtyard.(Zhang Shijun:1994) Hong Lou Meng is rich in courtyard images which not only give readers appreciation of beauty but also reflect characters’personality. What’s more, the courtyard images are closely integrated with the theme of the novel, plot development and the completeness of the whole structure. However, researches on images in Hong Lou Meng mainly focus on flowers, colors and poems and are insufficient in the aspect of courtyard. Therefore, it is of great significance and great academic value in studying the courtyard images.Based on the theory of Palmer’s cultural linguistics and the approach of qualitatively-based case analysis, the thesis employs the general four principles in cultural linguistics to the comparative study of Hawkes’and Yang’s English versions with representative examples in Hong Lou Meng, and further explores the factors influencing the imagery translation due to the cultural difference. This thesis attempts to contribute to the courtyard imagery translation studies with the application of Palmer’s Cultural Linguistics.